“You know, the hardest thing about having Cerebral Palsy and being a woman is plucking your eyebrows. That's how I originally got pierced ears.” —Geri Jewell
If you watched any television at all during the 1980s, chances are you remember Cousin Geri Jewell on The Facts of Life. Played by stand-up comic Geri Jewell, Blair Warner’s refreshingly comedic and quirky cousin was beamed into living rooms around the nation, dispelling myths about disability by mixing her real-life condition, Cerebral Palsy, with real-world humor and larger-than-life smiles.
Forging the Way for Disability on TV
The role was groundbreaking both for Geri Jewell and for television—it was one of the first roles for a character with a disability on series television. The focus of plotlines, however, was on Geri Jewell’s disability rather than her capability. As a result, Jewell told the E! True Hollywood Story, viewers came to expect serious or controversial social subjects to be tackled on any episodes in which she was included.
Jewell said she believed Cousin Gerri would continue as a recurring character on the show, but when she was only offered one episode for a season, she abandoned the role. Her last appearance on Facts was in 1984.
21 Jump Street
After Facts of Life, Geri Jewell returned to television on both sides of the camera—she pitched and starred in a 1999 episode of 21 Jump Street in which she played an injured cop who the Jump Street team helped bust a stalker preying on disabled people. She also had a recurring role on the CBS soap opera, The Young and the Restless.
Most recently, Geri Jewell returned to the small screen on the HBO drama Deadwood, a new genre of gritty Western about a brutal prospecting town. Deadwood creator David Milch simply thought viewers would find it interesting to see how a person with a disability might function on the very unforgiving frontier. He figured Geri Jewell was the perfect person to show them despite the fact that the role was so different than the one she played on The Facts of Life.
Afflicted with multiple disabilities, Geri Jewel is Deadwood’s hopeful barkeep despite being ridiculed by another character who bristles repeatedly and vocally over the sound her leg makes when it drags on the floor.
In one Deadwood episode, “Jewel’s Boot is Made for Walking,” Geri Jewel limps through town determined to deliver a book she has about leg braces to the doctor’s office. She is hoping the doctor can make one for her and stop the noise of her dragging leg. The doctor is quick to inform her that the braces won’t work for her.
Paving the Way for People with Disabilities
When Deadwood ended in 2006, Jewell hit the road with ongoing speaking tours booked for colleges, associations, corporations, and government agencies. She also performs on the comedy circuit and puts her voice and memorable presence to work to pave the way for greater opportunity for people with disabilities.
Though everyone will forever associate her with the character Cousin Geri, Jewel has had more airtime and lent more voice to people with disabilities in her more recent roles than she was given the chance to in her few Facts episodes.
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